AFRICA-ATLANTIC PIPELINE TO BE FINANCED BY AFRICAN AND EUROPEAN BANKS

The future Africa-Atlantic pipeline, which will stretch from Nigeria to Morocco through more than 10 countries, will be financed by both African and European banks. This view was expressed in a conversation with a TASS correspondent by Mubarak Lo, director of the Dakar-based Institute of Education, a research facility specializing in global and regional economic issues.

He participates in the 16th international discussion forum MEDays, which is held in the city of Tangier under the patronage of King Mohammed VI.

“The African Development Bank (ADB), which has traditionally been attentive to the continent’s development projects, will finance the Africa-Atlantic pipeline. International financial institutions will also contribute. European banks will participate in the financing. I think there will also be private investments,” the agency’s interlocutor noted.

“It is extremely important that this project is implemented and brings benefits to African countries through whose territories it will pass. There is work to be done to ensure the safety of the pipeline route, and this is where Russia’s expertise, which has extensive experience in this area, would be useful,” Lo stressed.

It is expected that the necessary intergovernmental agreements to start the implementation of the pipeline construction project will be signed in early 2025.

The longest underwater gas pipeline

The construction of the world’s longest underwater gas pipeline, with a length of about 5,660 km, was launched in 2016 by King Mohammed VI of Morocco and former President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria. The pipeline is expected to be laid along the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, along the coast of West Africa. The project is also expected to be used in the future to secure gas exports to the EU through Moroccan territory.

In late 2023, Mohammed VI, in one of his speeches, called the African-Atlantic Pipeline a project that would become “a reliable source of energy supply for European countries.” As Malam Mele Kyari, CEO of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, said last year, the cost of building the pipeline will exceed $25 billion.